Krueger Family Origins

The Kruegers are the family of my maternal grandfather. He was Lloyd Oscar Krueger, son of Oscar Karl Robert Krueger, grandson of Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Krueger, who came to the US from Prussia. Heinrich’s parents were Wilhlem J. Krueger and Caroline Hoge.

So far we don’t know exactly where the Krueger family came from in the old country. They were definitely from Pomerania (“Pommern” in German), a Northern province of the Prussia Empire that bordered the Baltic Sea. Today it is partly in Eastern Germany and partly in Poland. So far I have no records showing the immigration of Wilhelm Krueger or his wife Caroline Hoge. Neither do I have a mention of a birthplace for Wilhelm in any documents I’ve found from his life here in the US. Their sons Heinrich and Carl both stowed away aboard ships to come to the US (according to family legend), so no passenger lists will exist for them.

According to her burial record at Grace Luthern Church in the Town of Maine, Wisconsin, my 3x great grandmother Caroline Hoge was born in Stuchow, Kreis Cammin, Pommern, Prussia. The entry says:

Caroline Wilhelmine Florentine Krüger (née Hoge), born 18 June 1836 in Stuchow, Pommern, wife of Wilhelm Krüger, died 5 October 1917 in Town of Maine, buried in Taegesville Cemetery on 7 October, aged 81 years 3 months, 17 days. Verse: Revelations 14:13 (“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”)

Wilhelm and Caroline had two sons and (per her declaration on the census records) no other children which survived into adulthood. Their son Carl Bertold Krueger’s marriage record to Bertha Strehlow lists his birthplace as “Kalem, Provinz Pommern, Germany”:

Krueger / Strehlow Marriage, 1886

In the 1920 census Elsie Krueger Madden gives the birthplace of her parents as “Pomerania, Germany”.

Another bit of evidence is from the birth record of Carl Krueger’s son Paul W.B. Krueger. It says:

Paul William Berthold Krueger

Male, born November 2, 1889 to Carl Krueger & Bertha Strehlow

Town of Maine. Parent came from Kohlen Pomerania, Germany.

J.G. Glaeser, Pastor, Town of Berlin.

Certified 9 Dec. 1889.

Registered 6 Feb. 1890.

So “Kalem” and “Kohlen”. There is a town called “Kahlen”, very near the birthplace of Caroline Hoge in Kreis Cammin, Pommern, Prussia. In fact, the two towns of Kahlen (today it is Kaleń, Poland) and Stuchow (today called Stuchowo, Poland) were only about two miles apart, as seen on this map:

Kreis Cammin, Pommern, Prussia

Detail from Griefenberg Map, 1893

It is the current best guess for the home town of the Krueger Family at this point.

A conflicting bit of information which must nevertheless be mentioned is that in the 1930 census for Minoqua, Wisconsin, Heinrich and Bertha’s son Lawrence lists the birthplace of his parents as “Silesia, Germany”. Silesia, or Schlesien (in German), was a province more to the southeast, and was actually south of the province of Posen. I don’t know what to make of this information since it contradicts the other clues we have.

Lawrence Krueger’s entry in 1930 census.

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About cthomas1967

Seeking to bring my ancestors out of the shadows of history and into the light.
I have always been interested in history, and at a few different times I tried to do a family tree, but wasn't able to do it with the technology that was available then. On a business trip I visited the World War I Museum in Kansas City, MO and it was a very impressive establishment. While I was there I remember thinking, "Didn't my great-grandfather father fight in World War I? And wasn't his brother killed alongside him in some famous battle? I wonder if I can find out where he died." That's what started it all.
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This entry was posted on Monday, March 18th, 2013 at 12:18 AM and posted in Krueger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.